The world is not wheelchair accessible
Heading eastbound on the 21 last Sunday, a youngish man in a wheelchair got off the bus at Lake St. and Hiawatha across the street from Target. He then started to zip across Lake St. at top speed, and those motorized wheelchairs can move pretty fast. When he got to the other side of the street, he hit a slight rise in the pavement at the entrance to the parking lot. His wheelchair stopped, but he didn’t.
He sailed off and landed on his knees, before falling to his side, unable to get up. I, and at least a few others on the bus, let out a gasp. Luckily someone waiting for a bus on his side of the street quickly ran to help him out. I presume he was OK, but I didn’t see for sure before the bus continued on its way. The buses and trains may be wheelchair accessible, but all the world around us sure isn’t.
Feb 26th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
That must have been scary! It’s hard to know what to do; when you’re on the bus, you depend upon that for your transportation; you can’t just ask the bus driver to stop so you can assess the situation, no matter how much you want to show your caring and concern. You have a schedule to keep. The consequence is, you become an observer. As busriders, we have to be content to be observers of everything around us. It keeps us at a safe distance, but also makes us keenly aware of things happening outside the sphere of our influence.
Feb 27th, 2007 at 1:37 am
I’ve had this happen many times. It’s worse when you fall out into the street! I’m glad someone was around to help the guy. You’d be surprised sometimes at how many people choose not to “see” what happened and just walk right on by.
Mar 19th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
I hope I’m not the only one who laughed at this post. I think it’s how it was told rather than the actual event. God, don’t hate me… but that was kinda funny.